


Dive Bars and Jukeboxes

by bethfury



Category: Nashville (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 16:05:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethfury/pseuds/bethfury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He favored payphones in the back of no-name bars where the jukebox or the football game would drown out the conversation or most of the people were so focused on staring at the bottom of their glass, they missed him stride to the phone booth in the back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dive Bars and Jukeboxes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [linaerys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/linaerys/gifts).



> Set a few years in the future for the characters on the show, no specific spoilers.

_Sam’s, Dallas_

He favored payphones in the back of no-name bars where the jukebox or the football game would drown out the conversation or most of the people were so focused on staring at the bottom of their glass, they missed him stride to the phone booth in the back. Just another cowboy drunk-dialing the one who got away instead of writing a song about it.

  
The only difference was that this cowboy made his calls after the night’s concert had finished and Will had invented another excuse to leave the after party early.

  
“Will?” the voice half-asked, half-answered heavy with sleep, “You need to stop calling, you almost woke Scarlett.”

  
“I saw you on television yesterday with her on Fallon,” Will slurred quietly, swirling the beer left in the bottle, “You sounded really good together.”

  
“Why are you calling Will?” Gunnar ignored the compliment, “Do you have any idea what hour it is?”

  
“Not last call yet,” he chuckled, swigging back the rest of his drink, “I still have time for some more.”

  
Gunnar quieted as Will strained to hear him breathe over the receiver. He didn’t hang up very often and Will only ever brought enough change for one call. Not that he couldn’t have asked any of the fellow drinkers in the bar to spare a quarter for the Will Lexington, but he didn’t feel like being that Will Lexington very often anymore.

  
“Do you need me to call a cab?” Gunnar broke the silence, “Or I can call the tour manager so they can come pick you up.”

  
“Can’t we just talk for a little while like about the new motorcycle I know you got for your birthday because I helped Scarlett pick it out or how you both didn’t come to my Nashville show?” Will’s voice cracked, “Or do you remember that day in our old apartment when we both needed to use the shower and you just got in behind-”

  
“Will, Scarlett’s pregnant,” Gunnar interrupted him, “We didn’t make it to the show because morning sickness is more like all day sickness with her and the record label wants us to announce at three months in People so we’re staying in a lot.”

  
The receiver clattered against the metal of the phone, Will slamming it down.

  
He pulled out his cell phone and text out a quick message.

  
“Send Scarlett a bouquet of sunflowers with the message, ‘Uncle Will has a nice ring to it.’ and send my car to Sam’s on Railroad.”

  
He knew he’d be able to get one more drink in before his driver arrived.

 

_The Ice Box, Albuquerque_

“Will,” this time the voice wasn’t asking a question and Will’s breath stayed quiet and metered on the other end of the phone, “Scarlett loved the flowers, hated me for telling you, but loved the flowers. She said to tell you that she put in them in the bathroom since that’s where she spend most of her time now, but then made me promise I wouldn’t share something so gross.”

  
Will leaned into the wooden phone cubby, tearing at the paper on his bottle of beer as Gunnar continued rambling over the line.

  
“The photographer gets here tomorrow to take the pictures for People and Deacon has been by every single day so far to check in on her. So has Rayna, everyone is checking in on her all of the time and she just smiles and offers them sweet tea,” Gunnar laughed, “She offers everyone sweet tea and dessert still despite that even looking at a cookie has her running to puke.”

  
Will sighed as the music in the background continued through the Willie’s Roadhouse line up for today with Waylon begging mamas to never let their babies grow up to be cowboys and Will wished again he had grown up in a family that had given him a violin instead of a guitar.

  
“Will, are you still there?” Gunnar asked one more time before Will heard the line go dead.

  
He pulled out his cell phone dialing a familiar number, “Want to get drunk and order room service?”

  
“I’ll be over in 20,” Brent answered, “Order something nice though, I want more champagne less Budweiser.”

 

_Draft House, Anaheim_

“Will?” the voice was softer and gentler than Gunnar, but angrier about the intrusion.

  
“Scarlett?” Will felt his face go red, “I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  
“I can’t sleep, second trimester insomnia,” she answered, “Gunnar is still sleepin' away though, can't imagine that's going to help for nightly diaper changes.”

  
“I’m sorry,” Will responded again, before letting the line grow silent.

  
Scarlett gave a frustrated sigh, “Look Will, I’m tired, swollen, and I love you so let me cut this short, I know that you call and I know what happened.”

  
“What do you mean what happened?” Will asked, too surprised to play innocent with her.

  
“I know what happened between the two of you and I’m okay with it,” she explained, as Will wound the telephone cord around his fingers, “Gunnar told me awhile ago, but I’m blonde not dumb and neither one of you have a good poker face. He’s okay with it too but he’s worried about you and so am I.”

  
“That’s easy for you to say,” Will’s voice grew angry, “Your career is singing to hipsters too embarassed to buy a Juliette Barnes album, your sales would probably go up with that scandal.”

  
“It’s true,” Scarlett laughed, “We did a cover of ‘I’m a Girl’ on a YouTube concert series and people loved it. You’re right about all of it, your career would never be the same and I can’t say that I wouldn’t have made the same choices. But that’s not what I’m saying to you, I’m telling you that your family is worried about you.”

  
“I don’t know what to do next,” Will admitted, turning into the wall to blink away a few stray tears.

  
“You have a few choices and all of them are hard, and we’ll support you through them,” she answered, “But Gunnar isn’t one of them so if you are waiting for him to shove you out of the closet, it won’t happen. You need to stop these calls, each time the phone rings he gets this look like they are calling to tell him that his brother died for a second time.”

  
“Thanks Scarlett,” Will smiled, “You know that Will would be a great baby name.”  


“Somehow I don’t think I’ll be naming my first daughter after her daddy’s first boyfriend, but I’ll keep it in mind,” Scarlett laughed, “Now, get to bed and maybe call that Brent fellow, he might be interested in some company. But next time you drunk-dial, do it before eleven and cut the pregnant lady some slack.”


End file.
